"[T]he American experiment depends on engaged, informed, fully participating citizens -- what President Eisenhower called the obligatory 'part-time' political calling for all of us in a republic. Yet among our young, nearly half now profess an indifference even to whether they live in a democracy."
- Ben Sasse

The President says he's going to sign that economic-stimulus package into law next week. None of us want to turn down free cash, but this money isn't free -- it's going to contribute to increasing out Federal debt, and we're going to have to pay it back with interest in the future. The President is probably staging a press conference where he can hand over a big check like Ed McMahon or something. Sadly, the politicians want us to act like Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions and blow this cash like a bunch of spendthrift idiots. The bill for this package is huge -- about $150 billion by the time it's all tallied up. That just means that we'll have to pay it back with interest later on. In reality, this whole thing is just a big bank bailout package. For what it's worth, about 140,000,000 of us paid income tax last year.

We have a problem here in Iowa, too -- where the state government wants to spend lots of dough we don't have, either. I can't wait to hear what David Vaudt is going to say about the new spending proposals. Iowa is still spending far more than is coming in through taxes and fees. You might want to contact your legislator and complain.

In either of these cases, you have to ask: Why do our politicians act like we can borrow our way to prosperity? It just doesn't make sense.

Will today's big tech companies someday become big stodgy firms like the Big Three automakers? Is it possible? On one hand, they are today's emerging conglomerates -- but on the other, things have changed so much that Netscape Navigator, the granddaddy of web browsers, is going away forever.

Some British doctors are not following the rules on preventing MRSA, the drug-resistant infection. They say it's because following the rules would violate their religion. We have to be serious about public health. Freedom of religious expression can't be put directly at odds with others' lives: You can't just go around killing people, then excusing that killing by saying God told you to do it.